Here is the exhaust. Hedman Hedders, three inch pipe to a three inch crossover, Cherry Bomb mufflers with 1 three inch inlet and 2 two and a half inch exits. After the 90 degree bends out of the mufflers, the two and a half inch pipe expands to three inch, mimicking a double-barreled shotgun under the fenders, in front of the rear tires. The problem is getting all that to happen is such a short space. I found a really good source for mandrel-bent pipe, so there isn't any muffler shop bends in the system. I'm still running the stock 305 2bbl that was in the truck when I got it. This probably is more exhaust than the engine I'm planning will need, but it sure sounds good. Be warned that most shops can't do anything with three inch pipe. Also, three inch is big tubing for gas engines, but small for diesels, so your best bet is to buy pre-bent mandrel bends if no one offers a kit. Also, the Cherry Bombs weren't red when I got them. But they're supposed to be red, right?

We finally got around to doing the bed swap. The shop photos aren't great. The trans has been leaking, so Joe pulled it out and replaced the front and rear seals, the dipstick o-ring and the pan gasket as well as installing a new filter and filling it with new trans fluid. The gas tank (photo 3) has to move to the passenger side frame rail, as that's where they were from the factory. Thankfully, the donor truck is still here. We are also going to install the new exhaust. I have Hedman Hedders, a three inch X-pipe kit and two Cherry Bomb mufflers that are similar to Flowmasters. I'll try to get pictures of the exhaust on here in another entry.

In photo 1, this looks like an awesome drop. But we're on the tire. The lesson here I guess is to do your drop before buying your wheel and tire combo. These are 17X8 rims and 245/65/17 tires. My wife and I spent the night at my son's house, even though we had our other vehicle with us. Photo 2 shows the daylight view of the truck before we set about righting the problem. I used two and a half inch dropped spindles combined with two inch drop springs, for a total drop of four and a half inches. We bounced around the idea of buying new front tires, maybe 245/45/17. but the expense and additional drop the lower profile tires would bring weren't ideal. We talked about spring rubbers or cutting a full coil off the stock springs and putting them back in. Finally we just reinstalled the stock springs as they were. So, photo four is the BEFORE pic and five is the AFTER. The springs settled some on the drive back home, and the truck drove like new. Because we were already apart, we installed new wheel bearings and races, new shocks, new sway bar bushings and new brake pads while it was apart.

In photo 1 here, he's putting the spindles and springs on the left side. Photo 2 shows the extended shackle. In the top position, you get two inches of drop. Photo 3 is the raised spring bracket, which raises the front of the spring two inches, creating a four inch drop in the rear. The factory rivets the original brackets on, so they were ground down and knocked out with a punch. The instructions said to remove the tank to get to this bracket, but we didn't. You know how we guys are about reading instructions! (photo 4) And in it goes! (photo 5) In photo 6, it's back on the ground with all the parts installed. But...